Arts & Culture

To cap off the Australia Day long weekend my partner and I headed down to the UWA Somerville theatre to watch Everybody Knows, a slow-burning mystery thriller from director Asghar Farhadi.

Pro tip: gates open at 6pm, and don't come much later than that if you want to get a deckchair to sit on. The Perth Festival Films are more popular than ever, so if you turn up after 6.30pm like we did, you'll probably end up sitting on the grass to watch the film – which still makes for a relaxed viewing experience, especially if you manage to nab one of the beanbags available!

Not of the KFC variety and although the weather in Perth has been hotting up, the Little Death Club show at Fringe Perth hit way higher temperatures on the thermometer yesterday evening.

It was another balmy summer’s night as my partner and I headed towards the Edith Spiegeltent at Yagan Square. As we walked along William St, the Sauma Restaurant on the corner was heaving, and punters at Chico were busily queuing up for their gelato fix.

Inside the festive Spiegeltent, after a somewhat unexpected intermission due to an audience member’s intoxication getting the better of her, the show gathered momentum and introduced Perth to the best of modern dark cabaret.

Heading up the show was chief hostess Bernie Dieter – quite a character who is lusciously funny with a wicked sense of humour. She commanded the stage with her excitable demeanour and sexy style, and we couldn’t help but get drawn into her adventures.

“It's not how big it is, it's what you do with it that matters” - never has that cliche been demonstrated so wickedly well as when the performers of La Soirée take to the stage.

After braving the summer rain while waiting in line at the Ice Cream Factory, we were already a little bit wet before the show even started! And in typical raunchy La Soirée fashion, it wasn't long before the audience were fully lubricated both inside and out.

The first thing that always strikes me when I first arrive at a La Soirée performance is the tiny size of the circus ring – it always seems impossible to swing a cat let alone a human being on that little red circle. But swing they do, and tumble, sway, glide, lift, throw and roll to boot.

On a balmy Friday evening, we headed off to Kings Park to watch Crazy Rich Asians as part of the line-up of outdoor movies at the Moonlight Cinema.

A modern fairy tale love story (a romantic comedy) where rich boy meets working girl and all is perfect until the cultured boy takes the brash New York girl to meet his family back home in Singapore. This is the storyline of Crazy Rich Asians starring Henry Golding (as Nick Young) and Constance Wu (as Rachel Chu).

What makes this mainstream movie unique is its All Asian cast (with actors from around the globe), which has prompted more movie goers to see it due to the curiosity factor. Though different in its all Asian roster, the theme of the interplay between family dynamics, social status, and self-worth as an individual is something members of all cultures can relate to.

Five adorable puppies are tasked with the important job of becoming future guide dogs - this is the topic of the latest dogumentary from the US.

The film Pick of the Litter follows the story of five Labrador puppies from birth through the different and rigorous stages of training that are required to transform a puppy into a fully trained working guide dog in just two years.

It provides an interesting insight into all the different individuals who contribute towards making it happen – at the breeding centre where the puppies are first born; the puppy raisers who volunteer to take the puppies into their homes and teach them the basics; the dog trainers who put each puppy through their paces to see whether they have what it takes to be a guide dog; and on to the individual recipient.

On a beautifully balmy New Year's Eve my partner and I joined what seemed like half of Nedlands at the Somerville in UWA to watch the French drama / comedy Sink or Swim. Billed as a crowd pleasing Full Monty style film, Sink or Swim found us swimming in darker waters than the traditional British classic.

Whilst following the standard “bunch of inept losers come together to overcome their problems and rise to the top”, Sink or Swim avoids merely sticking to the stereotypical patterns normally seen in such movies.